So, there has been another disquisition on fandom

See here if you want details. (Why do you want details?), and God have mercy on your soul.

Here is what I know as a 60-year-old person.

I have been involved in knitting communities, SF communities, communities for individual fandoms, communities for broad categories such as "SFF" and "comics", communities for historic costume.

As an insider, they all look alike. There are people who want to welcome you and help you squee. There are people who want to judge you and see if you are worthy of being in the community. There are people who want to help you get better at being in the community.

As a polyamorous fan (thanks, Shrift and Nestra), the patterns look the same. There are people who want to be intense. There are people who want to benefit from the people who are intense. There are people who just want to hang out. There are people who want to make new stuff.

From my perspective as a person who gets intense, then dips out, they look pretty much the same. I am profoundly grateful for the people who share information. I tiptoe quietly away from the gatekeepers. And I squee with the people who just want to squee.

Fandom is the sea I float on. And I am grateful for all the other people who uplift me.